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The Eighth Spurious Argument: The Traditions that the Prophet appointed Imam Ali as guardian and successor

The Shias are criticized for saying that the Prophet Muhammad (s) had recommended that the Imamate and the caliphate were for Ali and his sons (a), and that the Prophet’s Companions had opposed his testament.

Among both Shias and Sunnis it has been established that the Prophet (s) had appointed Ali to be the Caliph and Imam after him. At the Well of Khum (Ghadir Khum), he proclaimed Ali to be his successor in the presence of groups of Muslims coming back from his last Hajj.He made sure that every one heard this in spite of the big crowds on that day. The news had reached everyone and everywhere. The chain of transmission of the news of Ghadir Khum in Sunni books has been uninterrupted and certain.

We have collected 256 sources of the tradition of al Ghadir from the books of our Sunni brothers in our book al-Jami’ li Barahin Usulul-I’tiqadaat. We had adequately explained that the tradition clearly meant to appoint Ali as leader and Imam after the Prophet (s). Here we quote it in brief:

Ibn Asaakir said in his book The History of Damascus vol. p.45: Abu Bakr Muhammad bin al-Husayn bin al- Marziqi told us that abul-Husayn Muhammad bin Ali bin al- Muhtadi told us that abul-Hasan Ali bin Umar bin Muhammad bin al-Hasan told us that al-Abbas bin Ahmad told us that Nasr bin Abdur-Rahman abu Sulayman al- Washa’ told us that Zayd bin al-Hasan al-Anmati told us that Ma’roof bin Kharbooth al-Makki told us that he had heard from Abut-Tufayl Aamir bin Wathila that Hudhayfa bin Useid said, When Prophet Muhammad (s) had come back from his last hajj (farewell hajj), he ordered his Companions to stop at some trees which were near each another in the desert. He came and did his prayer under the trees. Then he stood up and said,

O people, Allah the Most Kind the Omniscient has told me that no apostle lives to more than half the age of him who had preceded him. I think I am about to be called (die) and thus I must respond. I am responsible and you are responsible, then what do you say?’ They said, “We witness that you have informed, advised and striven. May Allah bless you.’

He said, Do you not bear witness that there is no god but Allah and that Muhammad is His servant and Apostle, and that His Heaven is true, His Hell is true, death is true, the Resurrection after death is true, that there is no doubt that the Day of Judgment will come, and that Allah will resurrect the dead from their graves?’ They said, Yes, we bear witness’. He said, O Allah, bear witness.’

Then he said, O people, Allah is my Lord and I am the lord of the believers. I am worthier of believers than themselves. Of whomsoever I had been Gurdian, Ali here is to be his Guardian. O Allah, be a supporter of whoever supports him (Ali) and an enemy of whoever opposes him.’

Then he said, O people, I will go ahead of you and you will arrive at my Pond (in Heaven) which is wider than the distance between Basra and San’a. It has receptacles as numerous as the stars, and two cups of gold and two of silver. I will ask you about the two weighty things that I have left for you when you come to me to see how you dealt with them. The greater weighty thing is Allah’s bookóthe Holy Qur’an. One end is in Allah’s hand and the other is in your hands. Keep it and you will not deviate. That other weighty thing is my family and my descendents. The Most Kind the Omniscient had told me that both of them, would not separate until they come to my Pond.

The aforementioned account has been a summary of the tradition. We will now cite some of its sources along with the names of the Companions who had heard it from the Prophet (s), as quoted from the books of our Sunni brothers. After omitting names that have been repeated the following is what we have gathered from their books:

O Apostle! Deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message, and Allah will protect you from the people; surely Allah will not guide the unbelieving people. (Qur’an 5:67)

This Qur’anic verse had descended in order to reveal Imam Ali’s guardianship. This fact has been mentioned in the books of the Sunnis. The author of Al-Ghadir has quoted this in vol.1 p. 214 223 from thirty of their books.

The Second Verse: Allah says:

This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed

My favor on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion. (Qur’an 5:3)

Al-Amini, in his book Al-Ghadir, vol. 1 p. 230, has quoted the narrations that confirm that this verse concerned the divine leadership of Imam Ali from sixteen books of the Sunnis.

The Third Verse: Allah says:

A questioner asked about a chastisement, about to fall for the unbelievers. There is none to avert it from Allah, the Lord of the ways of Ascent. (Qur’an 70:13)

This verse was revealed because someone, when he heard the Prophet saying, Of whomsoever I had been guardian, Ali here is to be his guardian,”ó said, “O Allah, if what Muhammad is saying is true, let heaven send stones upon us.’

A little after that Allah sent down a stone on his head and killed him. Then Allah revealed this verse to Prophet Muhammad (s).

Al-Amini quoted that in his book Al-Ghadir, vol.1 p. 239 - 246 from thirty of the books of the Sunnis.

Then people began to say, “yes, we have heard and obeyed the order of Allah and his Messenger with our hearts.’ The first of those who shook hands with Prophet Muhammad (s) and Imam Ali were Abu Bakr, Umar, Uthman, Talha, az-Zubeir, the rest of the Muhajirs (emigrants), the Ansar (helpers) and the public. They continued this until the Prophet (s) led them in the congregational Zhuhr (noon) Prayer and the Asr (afternoon) Prayer combined. They kept on doing this until he (s) led them in congregational Maghrib (sunset) Prayer and the “Isha’ (evening) Prayer both of them also combined. Thus they carried on paying homage and shaking hands for three days.

The Arabic word (Mawla) means to take charge of something and to achieve it. The author of As-Sihah says:

The ruler is the mawla i.e. he takes charge of the country. A man is mawla i.e. he takes charge of something, for example, selling. One says that someone was the mawla i.e. took charge- of something, and was given charge of it. For example the commander made someone take charge of something or someone was put in charge of selling something, and he took charge of the job.

The author of An-Nihayah says:

Wilaya guardianship- means administration with ability and action. Whoever takes charge of something becomes its Mawla guardian-Ö Umar’s saying to Ali, You have become the mawla (guardian) of every believer,’ means taking charge of every believer’s affairs.

The author of al-Qamus says:

Wilaya guardianship- means policy, command, and authority. Being the Mawla i.e. taking charge of something means being responsible for it. To take charge of the orphan means to be responsible for his affairs

The author of Lisan ul-Arab says:

Sibawayh says, Wilaya stands for the guardianship of someone; taking charge of his affairs and fulfilling his needs. The mawla (guardian) of a woman is he who undertakes the responsibility of contracting marriage on her behalf; she cannot get married without his agreement. Prophet Muhammad (s) says: (For women who got married without the permission of their guardians, their marriage is invalid.)

Thus, the real meaning of this word (mawla) is to take charge of a matter and to carry it out. The various uses of the expression simply express this basic fact, such as saying the word man’ for Zayd, Amr and Bakr. Allah is called Mawla because He is the ruler of the affairs of Man. The master is addressed as mawla because he is in charge of his slave, and the slave is also called mawla because he is in charge of carrying out his master’s affairs. Likewise, neighbors, cousins, allies and sons-in-law are called mawla because they help those who need their help. So, it has a common literal meaning.

So, the meaning of Prophet’s saying (Of whomsoever I am guardian, Ali here is to be his guardian) is that over whomsoever I took charge of his affairs, Ali will take charge of his affairs. This is clear concerning the leadership, imamate and guardianship of the nation. Since the Prophet Muhammad (s) was the leader, guardian and commander of the nation, so also will Ali.

This is the real meaning of the word according to the opinions of the linguists. If one rejects this meaning in preference for the other manifold meanings of the word “mawla’, it would be a word that would be common in expression, but having various meanings independent from each other.

In this case there would be no doubt that the meaning that agrees with the tradition would be the first one. Some senior scholars have discussed this subject in their books. Abu Ubayda says in his book Ghareebul- Qur’an: Mawla means worthier. He cited al-Akhtal’s poetic verse to Abdul-Malik bin Marwan as his evidence.

It was mentioned that Abul-Abbas al- Mubarrid had said that Mawla means worthier and most deserving.

Az-Zamakhshari said in his Tafsir, vol. 4 p. 66, Egyptian edition: In fact, Mawla means your place, where it would be better for you to be.

Al-Halabi, in his book At-Taqrib, said: Mawla, in fact, means worthier and the other expressions are derived from it. The master is a mawla because he is worthier to manage his slaves’ affairs and to bear with their faults. The slave is a mawla because he is worthier to obey his master. So too are the freed slave, the helper who is more worthy of helping whom he helps, the ally to be more worthy of supporting his allies, the neighbor to be more worthy of helping his neighbor and defending him, the son-in-law to be more worthy of his relatives, the imam to be more worthy of whom he leads and the cousin to be more worthy of helping his cousins.

Since the word (Mawla) means worthier, there is no excuse to turn it away from its real meaning and seek other ones.

The Prophet Muhammad (s) asked the people before appointing Imam Ali as guardian by saying, Am I not worthier of your selves than you are? Then he said: Of whomsoever I had been guardian, Ali here is to be his guardian.

The Prophet, in getting them to confess that he (s) is worthier of themselves than they are, before he said, Of whomsoever I had been guardian, Ali here is to be his guardian,’ clarifies one of two things: either (1) to confirm the matter and that they confessed to. In this case the following would therefore become a fact which would be that Mawla, then, means worthier and nothing else. Thus the Prophet’s saying would mean, am I not worthier of your selves than you are? Whoever’s self I had been worthier than, Ali here is to be worthier of his self than he is.

Or (2) forcing them not to deny what he (s) wanted after this by appointing Ali a commander and a ruler over them. Therefore, Mawla, here, means authority and leadership and nothing else.

In both cases, the hadith means that Imam Ali (a) had the right to dispose of their affairs and that they had to obey him and not to prevent him from this.

Moreover, Many Sunni and Shiite scholars have quoted the Prophet’s saying, Of whomsoever I had been guardian, Ali here is to be his guardian,’ after his saying, Am I not worthier of your selves than you are?’ with slight differences in wording. Here are the names of some of such scholars:

The second evidence is the Prophet’s supplication to Allah for Imam Ali (a) by saying, O Allah, be a supporter of whoever supports him and an enemy of whoever opposes him, and help whoever helps him and betray whoever betrays him. This is mentioned at the end of the hadith in many forms. It shows that the matter that the Prophet (s) had conveyed concerning Ali (a) needed help and support and that Imam Ali would have enemies and betrayers. In addition, it shows that Imam Ali (a) was infallible for he did not set about doing anything unless it was for the sake of Allah’s pleasure.

Various narratives show that the Qur’anic verse (This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favour on you and chosen for you Islam as a religion. 5:3) had been revealed for this occasion. That which is a cause for perfecting the religion and completing the Divine favor upon the Muslims must be among the principles of the religion. A principle by which the order of life and religion would be completed and through which the efforts of the Muslims would be accepted.

Some narrations of the hadith mentioned in some books confirm this point. They attest that the Prophet (s), after telling this hadith continued by saying, Allah is the greatest for the perfection of this religion and the completion of the favor, and for His contentment with my mission and the guardianship of Ali bin Abu Talib. In other narratives, the following form is recorded: and the perfection of Allah’s religion by Ali’s guardianship after me.

O Apostle! Deliver what has been revealed to you from your Lord; and if you do it not, then you have not delivered His message, and Allah will protect you from the people. (Qur’an 5:67)

was revealed for this occasion (Ghadir Khum), too. The verse showed the importance of this matter and it compared leaving this matter (informing of Ali’s guardianship) with leaving the Islamic mission as a whole. It also showed that it was a principle of religion, but it was not about Divine Unity, prophecy or resurrection that the Prophet (s) had informed of at the beginning of his mission. Nothing remained except the imamate of Ali (a), which the Prophet was hesitant to convey because he was afraid of the people. Therefore, Allah says,

Many narratives have been mentioned in the reference books of hadith concerning the Qur’anic verse,

This day have I perfected for you your religion and completed My favour on you, (Quran 5:3).

They have explained that it had been revealed after the event of al-Ghadir in which the Prophet (s) informed that Ali would be the guardian of Muslims. Likewise, the verse showed that the perfection of the religion and the completion of the Divine favor of Islam were achieved through the conveyance of Ali’s guardianship and imamate.

The Prophet (s) said in some narrations of this tradition, Allah had sent me with a mission, which my heart was unable to bear and I thought that the people would not believe me. Then Allah threatened me with Divine torment if I did not convey it.

This hadith has confirmed in many ways, that the Prophet (s) uttered this honorable saying after he had gotten the people to confess the Oneness of Allah and the Prophecy of Muhammad (s). This fact shows that this matter was very important for Islam and was considered as one of the fundamentals of faith.

There is the factual evidence that is clear and copious confirming the purpose of this tradition. For example, when the Prophet (s) stopped in the desert in the heat of the midday sun. The narrators of Hadith and historians mention that it was so hot that some people had to put cloths over their heads, some had covered their heads with their saddlebags, some sat in the shade of their camels and others sat in the shade of the rocks.

Then the Prophet (s) asked his Companions to erect a high platform of camel saddles and stones in order to see over all Muslims who were about seventy, eighty or one hundred thousand as some historians have said.

The Prophet (s) ordered the Muslims who had gone ahead to return and those who had been behind to halt.

Then he (s) took Ali with him up the platform, held his hand, and raised it until the white of the Prophet’s armpit appeared to the lookers.

People paid homage to Imam Ali (a); shook hands with him, and congratulated both him and the Prophet. It was mentioned that Umar bin al-Khattab was the first to congratulate him. The hadith of Umar’s congratulation of Imam Ali has come down to us in more than sixty different forms. Abu Sa’id an-Neisaburi (died in 407 A.H.) mentioned in his book Sharaful-Mustafa about the event of Ghadir according to a tradition narrated by Ahmad bin Hanbal from al-Bara’ bin Aazib and another one narrated by Abu Sa’id al-Khudri, that the Prophet (s) said: Congratulate me! Congratulate me! For Allah has favored me with Prophecy and favored my family with Imamate. Then Umar bin al-Khattab met Imam Ali and said: May you be blest, you have become my guardian and the guardian of every believer; men and women.

At-Tabari mentioned in his book al-Wilayah a tradition narrated by Zayd bin Arqam that the Prophet Muhammad (s) had said, Say that we have given a vow from ourselves and a word from our tongues and a homage with our hands which we pass on to our offspring and to our families. We will never change thatÖ”

The author of Rawzatus-Safa mentioned in vol. 1 p. 173, that Prophet Muhammad (s) sat in a tent and let Imam Ali sit in another. He ordered people to congratulate Imam Ali in his tent. When the men had finished congratulating Imam Ali, the Prophet (s) ordered his wives to go and congratulate Imam Ali.

Al-Ghazali said in his book Sirrul-Aalameen, in the Fourth Essay:

((The fact was crystal clear and the public had unanimously agreed on with the content of the Prophet’s speech when he said on that Day in Ghadir Khum: Of whomsover I had been guardian, Ali here is to be his guardian.

Umar then said: Excellent, O Abul-Hasan (Imam Ali’s surname)! You have become my guardian as well as that of every believer; man and woman.

Thus there was acceptance, approval and the appointment of his leadership. But later on this right was defeated by the passion for being in charge, for bearing the title of the caliphate, for the waving of ensigns and the snorting of horses in the wars and for conquering countries. All of this made them drink the cup of vanity and go back to the first discord. They threw the right behind their backs and sold it for a little price, and what a bad thing they had bought!))

The incident of al-Harith bin an-Nu’Man al-Fihri is another piece of evidence. It has been mentioned by many historians, one of which was ath-Tha’labi in his Tafsir. The Prophet (s) in Ghadir Khum, called for people to gather, then he took Ali’s hand, and said: Of whomsoever I had been guardian, Ali here is to be his guardian.

The news spread everywhere and reached al-Harith bin an-Nu’man al-Fihri. He came on his camel until he reached a place called al-Abtah. He rode off and hobbled his camel. He came to the Prophet (s) with some of Companions and said: O Muhammad, you had ordered us, from Allah, to witness that there is no god but Allah and that you are His Messenger and we accepted. And you had ordered us to pray five times a day and we accepted. And you had ordered us to go to Mecca to perform the Hajj and we accepted. All of that did not please you until you raised your cousin’s hand to prefer him among us and you said, of whomsoever I had been guardian Ali here is to be his guardian! Is this from you or from Allah? The Prophet (s) said: I swear by Allah other than Whom there is no other god, that this is from none other but Allah.

Al-Harith went towards his camel saying: O Allah, if what Muhammad said was true then let the heavens shower us with stones or bring us painful torment.” Before he could reach his camel, Allah hurled a stone at him that descended upon the crown of his head and exited out from the other side and killed him.

It was mentioned in many traditions that the Qur’anic verses: One demanding demanded the chastisement, which must befall the unbelievers (70:1-3), had been revealed for this occasion.

The Fourteenth Evidence:

Hasan bin Thabit asked permission from the Prophet (s) to describe the event in poetry. His poems have been repeatedly narrated and mentioned in both Sunni and Shiite books. Hasan wrote:

Their Apostle called upon them on the Day of Ghadir Khum,

What a caller he was, the best.

He said, Who is your guardian and who is your Apostle?

They said, and no one refrained

Your Allah is our Guardian and you are our Apostle, You will not find anyone of us disobedient.

Then he said O Ali, rise.

I have chosen you to be Imam and a guide after me.

Of him whose guardian was I, this is to be his guardian. Be, for him, followers truthful.

Then he prayed O Allah, help whoever helps him, And be an enemy for Ali’s enemy.

Ibnu-al Jawzi and Abu Abdullah al-Kanji ash-Shafi’ee said that the Prophet (s) said after hearing that poem, O Hasan, you are still aided by Holy Spirit whenever you strive for us with your tongue.

Qays bin Ubada al-Ansari said the following poem in the presence of Imam Ali during the battle of Siffin,

I said, when the enemy had oppressed us, It is enough for us to rely on Allah, our Guardian, And Ali, our Imam and our standard bearer,’

Imam Ali came to the courtyard of Kufa Mosque while the people were gathered there and asked about this tradition in order to refute his dissenters in the matter of caliphate. He said: I ask anyone to bear witness before Allah if he had heard the Prophet say, on that day in Ghadir Khum, Of whomsoever I had been guardian, Ali here is to be his guardian. Some people then stood up and testified.

Accounts of Imam Ali’s urgent appeal spread so widely that it reached a degree of wide transmission. Al- Hamawini said in his book Fara’id as-Samtein, Zayd bin Arqam, al-Bara’ bin Aazib, Salman and Abu Dharr stood up and said, “We testify that we remember that the Prophet Muhammad (s) was on the pulpit when he said: O people, Allah ordered me to appoint your Imam who is in charge of your affairs after me to be my inheritor and successor. He is to be obeyed by all believers according to Allah’s order as in the Qur’an. Allah made obedience to him as same as obedience to me and He ordered you to take him as guardianÖ etc.

Some books on hadith have expressed the occurrence of this event as a nomination. The Prophet Muhammad (s) had nominated Imam Ali as guardian. It is clear that such a nomination was not just to show love for some physical object.